The good news is that digital immigrant parents of teens are most likely to be familiar with current internet technology because their digital natives are translating the technology.The bad news is that digital native teens are adolescents functioning in a world where they have the technical know-how, but not necessarily the maturity to make good choices.

Anastasia K., author of Totally Wired, offers the following recommendations and a discussion guide for parents in the wired world:
1. Ask them where they hang out online: Have them show you their favorite sites and games. Then have them help you build a profile, create an avatar, play the game.

2. Ask them about their privacy settings: Find out if their profile or blog is public for the world to see or just for their friends.

3. Be their guide: Help them evaluate and find credible Internet sources for homework as well as to be critical of sites they go to for fun.

4. Set limits: Tell them when to turn it off. Limit multitasking when studying.

5. Teach teens cyberethics: Emphasize what’s different about bullying online, the public nature of the internet, plagiarism and cheating.

6. Keep the computer in a central space. Even if they have a laptop up until they are 16 or you feel like you have built enough trust for them to compute in their bedroom.

7. Ask if you can be their online “friend” so you can see who their “friends” are. Some parents make it a condition younger teens (13 and 14) who may be on social networking sites for teens 13 and up.

8. Know their buddies. For younger teens, ask them to go through their IM buddy list and tell you who everyone is. If they ever want to meet an online friend in person, insist on going with them.

9. Encourage them to tell you when something bad happens: Promise you won’t “take the internet away.”

10. Talk about appropriate use: When to put their phones on silent, not to use text messaging acronyms in papers for school, not to record and post “hidden camera” images of their friends.

Why wait until the kids are teens? Learn how to surf the internet together.

• Start by signing Kim Komando’s 10 Commandments For Kids Online.
• Join your kids in the online games at Webkinz or Club Penguin.
• Cruise the tween safe social network site Imbee.
• Build a family team blog on Blogger to talk about electronic games like this Pokemon, Nintendo DS, and Other Stuff blog.
• Record an audio podcast on podomatic.
• Watch favorite TV shows online at NBC.com, AOL television, or the eagerly anticipated hulu.
• Help your child find kid-appropriate videos on YouTube. Here is one I like showing a dramatic hamster.
• Create photo albums on Flickr or Picasa Web Albums.
• Build a family home on the internet on Famster.

Explore The Wired World With Your Kids

Surfing the web with your children opens up windows into limitless possibilities for tapping into your family’s creativity. Even better, it’s a fun place to hang out with your kids.

Other Wired Posts:

Living By Learning In A Wired World

Wired On The Road

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